The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit said Friday that the Kentucky Judicial Conduct Commission couldn’t investigate complaints against Joseph Fischer, who is running for the state Supreme Court in the 6th District.
The commission could take the case to the United States Supreme Court, but it would not be heard before the Nov. 8 election.
Earlier this week, a federal judge rejected Fischer’s request to stop a possible investigation into his campaign from the commission. He is running against current Judge Michelle Keller.
Fischer filed a lawsuit in early October that said he thought the commission was seeking sanctions against him for campaign violations resulting from him branding himself as “the conservative Republican” in the judicial race, which is a non-partisan race.
“My opponents wanted to prevent voters from learning about my conservative political background,” Fischer said in a release. “However, the Sixth Circuit’s decision affirms my right to tell voters about my record of being a registered Republican and conservative legislator as well as my endorsement by Kentucky Right to Life.”
Republican Robert Winter also joined the lawsuit saying the commission was also looking to take action against him. Winter is running for the 6th District Court of Appeals against Judge Susanne Cetrulo.
The two judges — Amul Thapar and Eric Murphy — on the Court of Appeals who voted in favor of Fischer said in their opinion that the commission seeking info from the campaign violates Fischer’s First Amendment rights.
“When a judicial commission sends vague and threatening letters to candidates on the eve of election, it puts the candidates to a choice between self-censorship and uncertain sanctions,” Thapar and Murphy said in their opinion. “The First Amendment protects the candidates from having to make such a choice.”
Dissenting Judge Richard Griffin said there wasn’t enough evidence to support Fischer’s claims.
In August, the Kentucky Judicial Campaign Conduct Committee called out Fischer in a letter expressing concern over his campaign materials. The letter said he is running a partisan judicial race that goes against the rules for judicial races in the Kentucky Constitution.
“When judicial candidates emphasize their affiliation with a political party, they erode long-held American principles of judicial independence and fairness,” the letter reads.
The committee is a nonpartisan group created to monitor the judiciary’s integrity in Kentucky judicial elections. Chair Anthony Wilhoit and the 12-member group penned the letter, and said the group is concerned that judicial elections are becoming too partisan, particularly Fischer’s race against current Kentucky Supreme Court Judge Michelle Keller.
“Judges by nature are rule makers and rule followers,” Keller said at the time. “It worries me that anyone would aspire to be a judge to blatantly disregards the long standing rules of the office he or she seeks because that’s what I think is happening.”